Saturday, 2 December 2017

"Leatherface" - UK Digital/DVD review

These Texas Chainsaw Massacre films get increasingly confusing, so far we've had 3 original sequels, a remake, a prequel to the remake, another sequel to the original and now we have a prequel to the original, "Leatherface", which shares the same title as one of the sequels. Which is released digitally this month and comes to UK DVD January.

Taking place some 20 years before the events of the original movie, the daughter of the local sheriff is "accidentally" killed after wandering onto the Sawyer family farmstead. Notwithstanding, the Sheriff returns the favour by having the young Sawyer children taken into protective care.

Having spent years residing at a mental health facility, when a riot breaks out, the Sawyer kids seize their chance and escape with another group of inmates, taking a nurse with them as hostage. But the group are ruthlessly pursued by the veangeful Sheriff who's really not interested in recapturing them and simply wants to dish out his own brand of justice, southern style.

So, the fate of the young nurse lies between sticking with the escapees, who will probably kill her eventually, or trying to get away and hoping the Sheriff doesn't mistake her for one of the inmates and killing her himself.

Extremely reminiscent of "The Devil's Rejects", which in turn was based on the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", I found "Leatherface" to be an entertaining enough slasher movie, which boasts a pleasing amount of gore and a good cast, which includes Stephen Dorff (Blade), Christopher Adamson (Judge Dredd, Pirates of the Carribean) and Lili Taylor (The Conjuring). But was left feeling a little confused about the plot and how exactly this ties in with the original film.

Extras on the DVD include...

Behind the Bloody Mask : Making of feature (12:50)Six deleted scenes, which includes an alternate opening and ending.

The DVD is released January 8th. But if you can't wait that long, it's available on Digital Download from January 10th if you fancy watching some gore and nastiness over the festive period!